Ancient Meteorite

Ancient Meteorite is a relic that causes every peg hit to produce an explosive recoil effect, propelling the orb with the same force as a bomb explosion. It appears as a relic option in Custom Start selections but cannot be obtained through normal play; the relic is unlocked by winning a standard run with Kinetic Meteorite.

The mechanical effect is simple and deterministic: whenever the orb strikes a peg, the hit generates an explosive knockback that sends the orb flying away from the impact point. This changes shot trajectories dramatically, increasing bounce distances and making shots far less predictable compared to normal peg hits. The effect is identical to the original Kinetic Meteorite behavior before that relic was changed to trigger only every third peg hit and to be disabled by refresh pegs.

Practical considerations and strategies:

• Aim planning must account for immediate strong recoil on every peg contact; aiming slightly off intended pegs or relying on tight, repeated peg chains becomes unreliable.
• Use the effect to clear distant or clustered pegs by leveraging the explosive propulsion to reach otherwise inaccessible areas of the board.
• Combining Ancient Meteorite with relics or upgrades that benefit from longer orb flight or additional bounces increases overall effectiveness.
• Avoid setups that require precise, low-energy placement or slow chip damage, since the constant knockback disrupts delicate trajectories.
• Because the relic is only selectable via Custom Start but requires unlocking by beating a run with Kinetic Meteorite, players must first obtain and win with Kinetic Meteorite in a normal run to add Ancient Meteorite to their custom options.